NHL Grind Down: Sunday, February 25th
The RotoGrinders NHL Grind Down article will give you an in-depth analysis into the NHL schedule. This article will break down the numbers for every single game and give you analysis on which trends you can exploit. While matchups are a major factor in daily fantasy hockey there are plenty of other factors to consider such as injuries, salaries, and more.
The analysis should point you in the right direction, but it is still up to you to decipher the information and make your own selections. Hockey is an extremely high variance sport. The best choice is not always the right choice but following the trends will win you money over time.
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St. Louis Blues at Nashville Predators
| St. Louis Blues | Nashville Predators | ||||||||
 | Carter Hutton |  | Pekka Rinne | ||||||
| Record | Record | ||||||||
| 34-24-4 | 37-14-9 | ||||||||
| Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% | Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team Stats | 2.74 | 2.58 | 16.24 | 82.01 | Team Stats | 3.12 | 2.50 | 22.60 | 82.41 |
We need to start this article off by realizing that the trade deadline is tomorrow and that a few players may actually be late scratches due to the possibility of being traded. We have already seen Evander Kane among others already being held out of games so be cognizant of those type of changes when making your line-ups today.
The NHL brings us six games today with the first two being on the early slate. The Blues have been having their problems of late as the team has dropped their last five games by a composite score of 17-7. It seems that ever since Jaden Schwartz was injured that this team has never been the same. Schwartz played on the top line with Vladimir Tarasenko and Brayden Schenn while Paul Stastny, Alexander Steen and Patrik Berglund skated as the team’s second line. As you can imagine losing those five games has put the team in danger of not making the playoffs as their 72 points was good enough for the last spot in the Western Conference going into yesterday’s action. It is for this reason that the Blues have elected to put their lines back in the blender as it appears that they are in full panic mode. Tarasenko now draws Stastny and Ivan Barbashev on the top line while Schwartz and Schenn get Vladimir Sobotka on the second line. This drops Steen and Berglund down to the third line to play with newcomer Nikita Soshnikov. While all of this shuffling around does give you more options it also makes it tougher to pinpoint where the scoring comes from if there is any. The power play has been okay as they have struck for goals in three of the last four games. Schenn continues to lead the team with 24 goals and 31 points while Tarasenko’s 53 points is just two points behind the team leader. Steen joins the top line on the power play unit that sees at least 67% of the ice time when the Blues raw a penalty. Defenseman Vince Dunn is the lone defenseman on the top power play unit as he has collected just one point over the last five games while Alex Pietrangelo and his 37 points would seem to be the safer bet here. The Blues need to get things on track if they want to stay in the playoff hunt.
Nashville has been one of the better teams in the league as their record of 37-14-9 has the team in the lead for the Central Division crown. They have been running on all cylinders lately as they have scored 15 goals over the last three games as they will look to the top line of Ryan Johansen, Filip Forsberg and Viktor Arvidsson to add to those totals. Arvidsson leads the team with 22 goals while Forsberg has added 42 points in the 46 games he has suited up for. They are joined by Craig Smith and defenseman P.K. Subban while Smith’s line mates in Kyle Turris and Kevin Fiala are joined by Colton Sissons and defensemen Roman Josi and Ryan Ellis on the team’s second power play unit. This is important because the Predators are one of those teams that divides the power play duties almost up the middle where the two lines are concerned. Subban leads the team with 33 assists and 48 points but using any of the three defensemen should be okay this afternoon as they all have notched at least six points over the last seven games. Look for Nashville to have no problem with the Blues this afternoon provided that they stay focused.
Top Plays
STL: Brayden Schenn
NSH: Filip Forsberg, P.K. Subban
Secondary Plays
STL: Vladimir Tarasenko, Jaden Schwartz, Alex Pietrangelo, Alexander Steen, Paul Stastny
NSH: Viktor Arvidsson, Ryan Johansen, Roman Josi, Craig Smith, Kevin Fiala, Ryan Ellis
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